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With Dow Chemical chief executive Andrew Liveris and other business leaders at his side, US President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order directing federal agencies to set up task forces to review what regulations can be repealed.

The order, Mr Trump said, will make sure that each federal agency has a “dedicated team of people” to research which regulations are “unnecessary”, “burdensome” or “harmful to the creation of jobs and business.”

“Every regulation should have to pass a simple test — does it make life better or safer for American workers or consumers? If the answer is no, we’ll be getting rid of it and getting rid of it quickly,” Mr Trump said during a brief ceremony in which he signed the order.

Further details were not available at pixel time. Mr Trump had frequently railed against excessive regulation on the campaign trail and made paring back rules and red tape a key part of his pro-business platform.